4.38: The "Start Game" Animation

def startGameAnimation(board):
    # Randomly reveal the boxes 8 at a time.
    coveredBoxes = generateRevealedBoxesData(False)
    boxes = []
    for x in range(BOARDWIDTH):
        for y in range(BOARDHEIGHT):
            boxes.append( (x, y) )
    random.shuffle(boxes)
    boxGroups = splitIntoGroupsOf(8, boxes)

The animation that plays at the beginning of the game gives the player a quick hint as to where all the icons are located. In order to make this animation, we have to reveal and cover up groups of boxes one group after another. To do this, first we’ll create a list of every possible space on the board. The nested for loops on lines 5 [257] and 6 [258] will add (X, Y) tuples to a list in the boxes variable.

We will reveal and cover up the first 8 boxes in this list, then the next 8, then the next 8 after that, and so on. However, since the order of the (X, Y) tuples in boxes would be the same each time, then the same order of boxes would be displayed. (Try commenting out line 8 [260] and then running to program a few times to see this effect.)

To change up the boxes each time a game starts, we will call the random.shuffle() function to randomly shuffle the order of the tuples in the boxes list. Then when we reveal and cover up the first 8 boxes in this list (and each group of 8 boxes afterwards), it will be random group of 8 boxes.

To get the lists of 8 boxes, we call our splitIntoGroupsOf() function, passing 8 and the list in boxes. The list of lists that the function returns will be stored in a variable named boxGroups.

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